The Reasons Our Team Went Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish individuals decided to operate secretly to expose a network behind illegal commercial enterprises because the criminals are damaging the reputation of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they explain.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for a long time.

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was running mini-marts, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services throughout Britain, and aimed to learn more about how it operated and who was participating.

Equipped with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no right to be employed, seeking to purchase and operate a convenience store from which to distribute contraband cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were successful to discover how simple it is for an individual in these circumstances to establish and manage a enterprise on the main street in plain sight. Those involved, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to legally establish the operations in their identities, helping to fool the authorities.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to covertly film one of those at the core of the organization, who claimed that he could remove official fines of up to £60,000 encountered those employing unauthorized laborers.

"I aimed to play a role in exposing these illegal activities [...] to declare that they do not speak for our community," explains one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant personally. The reporter came to the United Kingdom illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a area that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a country - because his well-being was at risk.

The reporters recognize that disagreements over illegal migration are elevated in the UK and say they have both been anxious that the investigation could intensify tensions.

But the other reporter explains that the unauthorized employment "damages the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he considers compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, Ali mentions he was worried the coverage could be used by the extreme right.

He explains this particularly impressed him when he noticed that extreme right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating secretly. Banners and banners could be seen at the rally, displaying "we demand our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring social media response to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has sparked intense frustration for certain individuals. One social media message they spotted read: "How can we locate and locate [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

A different called for their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also encountered allegations that they were informants for the UK authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish-origin community," Saman says. "Our aim is to uncover those who have damaged its reputation. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish identity and profoundly concerned about the behavior of such persons."

The majority of those applying for asylum state they are escaping politically motivated persecution, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that supports refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, struggled for many years. He explains he had to survive on under £20 a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now are provided about £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which includes food, according to government guidance.

"Practically saying, this isn't enough to maintain a dignified lifestyle," explains Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely prevented from working, he believes a significant number are susceptible to being manipulated and are essentially "forced to labor in the black economy for as little as £3 per hour".

A spokesperson for the government department said: "The government make no apology for not granting asylum seekers the permission to work - granting this would create an reason for people to come to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Refugee applications can take years to be resolved with nearly a one-third requiring more than a year, according to government statistics from the late March this current year.

Saman explains working without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or mini-mart would have been extremely easy to accomplish, but he informed us he would never have participated in that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he encountered employed in illegal mini-marts during his research seemed "confused", notably those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals used their entire money to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum denied and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

The other reporter concurs that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] declare you're forbidden to be employed - but simultaneously [you]